Brummell Blog: Wolfgang Puck

INTERVIEW: DOUGLAS BLYDE

The celebrated Austrian-born American chef has just opened his first British venture The Cut at the 5-star hotel, 45 Park Lane. Here he talks about cruelty, inspiration, benevolence and rock and roll…

Wolfgang Puck has just opened The Cut at 45 Park LaneAt the age of 14, I nearly threw myself into the river. I’d been fired from my apprenticeship at Romantik Hotel Post, in Villach, Austria, after three weeks. My father had always seen cooking as a women’s profession and had always said I was good for nothing. I stood on the bridge for an hour. Then suddenly I thought, I’ll go back.

The apprentice a year ahead was happy to see me, hiding me in the vegetable cellar to do his work. But a fortnight later the chef found out. ‘I’ll kill myself, if I go home’ I said. He called the owner who somehow found a little heart and sent me to his sister hotel where the women chefs were a little nicer. When I returned from compulsory catering school I’d earned the highest grades the owner had seen.

The CutMy father’s attitude was exactly the opposite when I became well known. He insisted, ‘We need to arrange a statue for Wolfgang.’ He also said that if he hadn’t been as tough I would’ve been ‘the same as all the other kids’. My mum was an angel to have lived with him so long. Regardless, I wiped the slate and sent my parents tickets to America. I’d secretly arranged lunch at The White House and my mother was speechless when Nancy Reagan came by to say hi. Then we went to Texas to the Southfork ranch set from Dallas. ‘There’s JR!’ exclaimed my father of my friend, Larry Hagman.

Mini Kobe Sliders, The CutMy mentor was Raymond Thuillier of L’Oustau de Baumanière, in Provence. He officiated at my first wedding in 1984, after being elected mayor at the age of 73. ‘I’m in the middle of my life’ he’d say. He cooked the way he felt, using lobster, sole, turbot, baby lamb and vegetables from six gardeners including the tiniest green beans. If we had vegetable soup you knew it’d taste of vegetables. He was owner, chef, patron and painter. A renaissance man who’d go into the dining room and talk with Queen Elizabeth or Picasso. Amazingly, he didn’t cook professionally until 50.

Tuna Tartar at The CutTo give something back feels right. In 1982 I organised an event in the US to raise money to feed the elderly and sick neglected by the state, including a friend whose parents threw him out because he was dying of HIV. Six hundred guests came to a parking lot, catered by seven restaurants and 60 wineries. This led to ‘Meals on Wheels’, a service that delivers 4,000 meals daily to Americans who need them most.

Despite an empire of 20 fine dining restaurants, I still wake up thinking ‘what if nobody shows up?’ A restaurant’s a whole experience. Lighting’s important because ladies must look good, as is music. I love Floyd and Zeppelin as well as opera. The tenor Vittorio Grigolo sang at my wedding. My wife recently took me to see Lady Gaga (our son, Alexander loves ‘Alejandro’) and, to my surprise, I enjoyed it!

Michael Caine said it’d be fantastic if I opened in London. My grandmother worked in fields and my father was a coalminer. London has the world’s most exciting restaurants and opening The Cut on Park Lane makes me very proud.

The Cut, 45 Park Lane, Mayfair, London. W1K 1PN, 020 7493 4545, 45parklane.com